Language policy will cost nation 'billions'

Benjamin Preiss

THE FEDERAL government's plan to allow all students to study an Asian language would cost billions of dollars, an Asia policy expert says.

Professor Ken Chern praised the government's ''ambitious'' strategy to strengthen ties with Asia but said it would require a major financial commitment.

''The government will have to move powerfully to implement what I think is a very important program,'' he said at Melbourne's Swinburne University.

The Asian Century white paper outlines plans to improve Australians' knowledge of Asian languages and culture. It aims for all students to have access to study Mandarin, Hindi, Indonesian or Japanese.

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Professor Chern said giving students the opportunity to learn an Asian language would ''likely run into the billions''.

But he welcomed the white paper's proposal for Asian language studies to be a core requirement of funding arrangements for schools to be negotiated between the federal and state governments and non-government education authorities.

The Asia Education Foundation's executive director, Kathe Kirby, welcomed the education objectives listed in the white paper but said they would require the support of state and territory governments.

The foundation believes it would cost about $1 billion to have 50 per cent of young people in Australia learning an Asian language over the next decade.

The federal government also aims to encourage more Australian university students to study in Asian universities.

The Tertiary Education Minister, Chris Evans, said the government would support universities in increasing the number of students taking Asian studies as part of their education.

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